John Edwards: "Yep, I am indeed a liar and a giant douchebag!"

[Sheilbh]

"Getting your end away?" 

Does that mean getting your Zeb wet?

Yep

[Admiral Yi]

You are confusing two things here. When people vote for party lists, they still vote for individual candidates on these lists, and the ones who received most votes are the ones who get in from the list in question. The only difference is that it is possible for someone with less votes get in over someone with more votes, because the guy who gets in was on a list that got more votes in total.

I was taught in college that in party list systems the party orders their candidates in preference order, and the top X percent of the list get seated depending on how much of the national vote they win.  But if you say it doesn't work that way, who am I to say no?

So what happens if one party gets, say, half the national votes but all of them are assigned to one candidate?

[Sheilbh]

I was taught in college that in party list systems the party orders their candidates in preference order, and the top X percent of the list get seated depending on how much of the national vote they win. 

That's only the case in certain party list systems.  In others I think it's as Marty describes and I believe in some you can vote for a party list or for individuals on party lists.